It’s one of the benefits of being...

It’s one of the benefits of being a Trojan that isn’t mentioned in USC’s recruiting literature: Entree to thA. Gun Club.

In an ad in the school’s Daily Trojan newspaper, the downtown club says: “USC beginners: Free brief safety instruction.”

The ad also tells USC students that a session at the indoor pistol shooting range is “a great way to relieve stress!”

Just the thing for finals time.

List of the Day:

Funny, we could have sworn we saw some familiar names in the state controller’s list of “Unclaimed Property” accounts in banks, recently published in The Times.

The list of individuals and companies that no one can track down includes:

1--Singapore Airlines, Beverly Hills.

2--La Cage Aux Folles restaurant, L.A.

3--ABC Entertainment Center, Century City.

4--Harbor Convalescent Hospital, Torrance.

5--South Coast Air Quality Management District, El Monte.

There were also some unfamiliar names that we found intriguing, such as Californians for Denturism. (We’re not sure whether we’re for or against.)

It’s easily understandable how one group on the list could have forgotten about its bank account (among other matters).

It’s listed as: California Marijuana Initiative, Van Nuys.

Dueling Sign of the Week honors, meanwhile, go to Burt Irwin, who found a duo that could create a stop-and-go dilemma for motorists on Reeves Avenue in Carson.

There was actually talk for awhile of christening a Bill and Ted Drive in San Dimas, where the films “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” and “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” are set.

That project seems to have died. But a real-life adventurer is being honored there, proving real life still has some meaning today.

Frontiersman Jedediah Smith, the first white man to reach Southern California overland, will be immortalized in a statue by sculptor Victor Issa in front of San Dimas City Hall later this year.

Smith and his party of explorers “spent the night of Nov. 26, 1826, at Mud Springs, now San Dimas,” after visiting San Gabriel Mission, according to the San Dimas Festival of Western Arts. (Interesting that the former Mud Springs would later become the home of the Raging Waters amusement park.)

Smith was killed by Indians near Santa Fe in 1831. The Illinois Monthly Magazine, in a colorful eulogy, declared that while Smith’s “body glutted the prairie wolf, and no can tell where his bones are bleaching, he must not be forgotten.”

Amen.

miscelLAny:

A survey by Commuter Transportation Services found that 76% of the commuters living in L.A. County drive to work alone three times or more per week, compared with 80% in San Bernardino County, 81% in Riverside County, 83% in Ventura County and 86% in Orange County.